Lin Wanxing remembered that before Wang Fa ran, the students had been eagerly comparing who would have the shortest final time.
But after Wang Fa repeated the entire set of exercises, the boys saw the time on the stopwatch, and in that moment, everyone felt it was utterly pointless!
They were all happily doing a test, why did he have to join in and spoil the fun!
That was probably the sentiment.
The sun beat down, making their skin burn. Wang Fa completed the full set of exercises and walked toward them from the nearby grass.
His breathing was slightly more rapid than when he wasn’t exercising, and he was sweating. His black T-shirt clung to his back, outlining the well-defined shape of his shoulder blades.
But aside from that, there was no sign of fatigue, as if he had just finished a normal warm-up routine.
Lin Wanxing wrote Wang Fa’s name at the end of the form and recorded his total time. Her name was at the top, the students’ in the middle, and Wang Fa’s at the bottom.
The boys looked at the string of numbers from top to bottom, their feelings complicated.
“Coach, are you here to crush our spirits…?” Yu Ming asked dejectedly.
Lin Wanxing held the clipboard. Wang Fa leaned over to glance at his time and said, “I haven’t trained in a while.”
Qin Ao: “What do you mean, ‘haven’t trained in a while’!?”
Qi Liang: “He obviously means, ‘Ah, this result is much worse than before~’.”
Due to the intense exercise, Qi Liang’s messy hair was soaked with sweat, lying flat and obedient against his scalp. He mimicked Wang Fa’s calm tone as he complained.
Wang Fa nodded: “That’s exactly what I meant.”
Chen Jianghe: “Honesty hurts, Coach.”
Lin Wanxing, listening nearby, unconsciously twirled her pen.
Wang Fa was puzzled: “How does it hurt?”
The students were shocked.
“You’re a professional level player coming to crush us high school students, and you don’t think that hurts!?”
“Your overall time is so much shorter than ours, and you didn’t even rest in between. Are you even human?”
“Coach, were you a professional player before?”
The students chimed in one after another, with the feeling that if Wang Fa weren’t their coach, they’d probably beat him up first and ask questions later.
Wang Fa: “Don’t compare yourselves to me. Compare yourselves to your teacher, and you won’t feel hurt.”
The students all widened their eyes, looking at her and then at Wang Fa, surprised that the coach would say such a thing.
Lin Wanxing gripped her pencil, not thinking Wang Fa meant it literally.
“What’s there to compare with our teacher? She’s never even played soccer.”
“It’s like us competing with elementary school kids in arithmetic—just bullying!”
Lin Wanxing raised her hand: “I… think you might not be faster than elementary school kids. What if they end up bullying you?”
“Teacher, say less. Look how out of breath you are!”
The boys quickly stopped her from speaking further.
“Sit down.” Lin Wanxing heard Wang Fa say this to her. Then, Wang Fa led the way by sitting down on the grass, appearing very relaxed.
The boys remained standing, frozen in place. Wang Fa asked them, “You don’t want to compare yourselves to Teacher Lin, so why do you want to compare yourselves to me?”
“Because you’re strong.”
“Aren’t you our goal? Otherwise, why did you demonstrate the whole set for us?”
The sun was scorching hot, the grass blades and soil warmed by its rays. One by one, they followed suit and sat down.
“I’m clearly not suitable as your goal,” Wang Fa said. “First, I did start as a professional player, but I retired very early. I’ve been a coach for much longer than I was a player.”
Lin Lu asked with concern, “Then why did you retire, Coach? Were you injured?”
Lin Wanxing noticed a fleeting abnormality in Wang Fa’s expression when he heard this question, but he quickly replied, “I wasn’t injured.”
“Oh, then… why are you so fierce?” Lin Lu asked.
In the boys’ vocabulary, “fierce” was probably the highest praise. They looked at Wang Fa with admiration-filled eyes.
Wang Fa answered patiently and seriously: “First, I regularly do the same amount of physical training as my players. Second, I have more experience and the instinct to allocate my energy reasonably.”
“The instinct to allocate energy reasonably?”
“For example, there might be a ten-year age gap between us, but overall, our endurance shouldn’t differ much—or rather, you should be stronger in this aspect. But believe me, once we start a match, your stamina will deplete faster. I can rely on my experience in energy allocation to maintain faster explosive sprints and more stable technical movements throughout the entire game compared to you.”
The boys nodded vigorously, as if they understood Wang Fa’s words. However, there was a huge gap between understanding the literal meaning, grasping the content, and actually putting it into practice.
The students realized this too, so they asked somewhat anxiously:
“We kind of feel that too, we get a little bit of it. But Coach, this sounds like something that only comes with long-term training and playing matches.”
“We really want to learn, but if you’re not here, what should we do?”
Their faces were full of conflict, speaking cautiously while constantly observing Wang Fa’s expression.
“The first thing you need to achieve is something very simple yet very difficult,” Wang Fa said as he raised the clipboard, showing the students the form where he had recorded all their results.
There were many names and lots of data.
Lin Wanxing saw her time at the top—the worst result.
And Wang Fa’s time at the bottom—far surpassing all the students.
In between were all the boys’ test time results, one after another, densely packed, with highs and lows.
Then, Wang Fa said: “Find your own test results, remember them, and forget everyone else’s.”
The boys looked at the coach. The white paper reflected bright light, every pencil mark exceptionally clear.
Wang Fa’s expression was calm and solemn, but the students looked confused.
The next moment, Wang Fa, in front of all the students, drew a clear vertical line in front of the total time column from top to bottom and said: “Please remember, on this field, there will always be someone weaker than you and someone stronger than you. The person you should compare yourself to is never anyone else—it’s always only yourself.”
The students’ expressions shifted slightly. There was less confusion and uncertainty; they weren’t as happy as before, but not as unhappy either.
They just squinted, looking very seriously at the row of numbers on the coach’s clipboard that belonged to them, trying hard to remember.
Lin Wanxing raised her bottle of mineral water, took a sip, then toasted Wang Fa with it.
=
Getting students to focus on themselves in a short time was clearly not a simple matter. After all, everyone had grown up accustomed to being compared.
And what exactly was focusing on oneself? How to actually do it? These were actually a series of huge questions, abilities that required long-term effort to understand and master.
But Lin Wanxing was grateful that Wang Fa had brought this up. It showed he always wanted to teach these students well and seriously.
After the fitness test, they didn’t talk much more.
The students had classes to attend, and Lin Wanxing had to go to work. Before parting temporarily, the students were very reluctant.
Time was tight now. Wang Fa only had a few days left before leaving, and they wished they could cherish every second with their coach. But their daily school schedule didn’t allow it.
So, Lin Wanxing promised the students she would try to get them more extracurricular time.
There weren’t many morning PE classes. Lin Wanxing spent a rare leisurely time thinking about solutions.
At noon, Lin Wanxing went to the school library to borrow a book. Carrying the book, she knocked on the door of the Physical Education Group office.
The portly Teacher Qian was sitting by the window drinking tea; the other teachers weren’t there.
Seeing her, Teacher Qian greeted her warmly: “Teacher Lin, what brings you here today?”
“I came to report on my work to you, Teacher Qian.” Lin Wanxing stood beside Teacher Qian’s desk and only then noticed that Teacher Qian’s spot was excellent—being close, he could clearly see the senior year classrooms in the building opposite.
She withdrew her gaze and said to Teacher Qian, “Yesterday, I took our school’s soccer team to participate in the National Youth League qualifiers again.”
“Oh right, there was a match. How did it go?” Teacher Qian held his large tea mug, took a sip of tea, and asked.
“We won. We advanced to the main tournament.”
“What?” Teacher Qian’s hand clearly trembled. He hurriedly put down the mug; the enamelware hit the desk with a loud “clang.” “Advanced to the main tournament?”
“Yes, they played quite well,” Lin Wanxing said.
Perhaps feeling his reaction was too exaggerated, and to maintain his teacherly demeanor, Teacher Qian gently picked up the mug and took another sip: “So, who did you beat?”
“We eliminated Green View International,” Lin Wanxing said.
Hearing this, Teacher Qian “pffted” and sprayed tea all over the Hongjing Daily in front of him. Lin Wanxing calmly pulled out a tissue and handed it over.
“Cough… cough… Who???” Teacher Qian asked between coughs.
“Green View International High School—the one affiliated with Green View Tobacco, the cigarette company. I heard it’s the high school section of their own soccer academy?” Lin Wanxing explained further according to his question. “I heard they joined our qualifiers for some reason.”
“Of course I know Green View International!” Teacher Qian’s eyes widened like copper bells, completely surprised that they could actually defeat a strong opponent like Green View International.
But then he remembered something else, and his voice suddenly became dry: “Teacher Lin, you’ve put in a lot of effort.”
“It’s all the result of the students’ hard work,” Lin Wanxing also used official jargon with Teacher Qian. “So, Teacher Qian, don’t you think this opportunity is rare? I’d like to apply to the school for the students to have more time for soccer training.”
Teacher Qian’s gaze grew even more complicated: “This isn’t something you can decide easily. How do you plan to apply?”
“I’ve looked up relevant information. The kids on the soccer team could take the ‘high-level athlete’ path.” When Lin Wanxing mentioned “university,” she carefully observed Teacher Qian’s expression.
Teacher Qian’s eyebrows twitched: “‘High-level athlete’ isn’t that simple. First, they need to achieve good rankings in competitions. Second, the academic requirements are extremely high.”
Lin Wanxing nodded: “I checked—they need to reach the second-tier university entrance score line.”
“Are you confident?” Teacher Qian, like a shrewd old fox, suddenly asked.
“I’m not entirely sure, but rather than having them sleep in class every day, it’s better to let them go out and play soccer. I can also use my spare time to tutor them.”
Lin Wanxing had been in the student union in college and was adept at official talk. As she spoke, she continued to keenly observe the changes in Teacher Qian’s expression.
Sure enough, Teacher Qian wasn’t that interested in the earlier “soccer achievements.” Instead, when she mentioned “tutoring,” Teacher Qian showed signs of interest: “Teacher Lin, you want more time and space to tutor these students individually?”
“You could understand it that way,” Lin Wanxing went with the flow and continued, “So I’d like to ask for your help. Could the school make a special approval for our school team players to have more flexible training times, not strictly following the school schedule.”
“You want to form a separate class for them, with you leading it?”
Lin Wanxing: “Not necessarily a separate class; it would still be the team.”
“This requires more than just leadership approval. Not following school classes mainly needs parental consent. The college entrance exam is next year. If the kids focus solely on soccer and neglect their academics, that’s a lifetime matter.”
“I know,” Lin Wanxing said.
“You need to provide some guarantees,” Teacher Qian continued hinting.
“Like what kind of guarantees?”
“For example… guaranteeing to the parents that you can get the kids into university,” Teacher Qian said very directly.
“That might be difficult,” Lin Wanxing said frankly. “It’s just my unilateral verbal promise; it’s useless.”
“Then at the very least, something like improved results in the next monthly exam. Otherwise, how can you convince the parents?”
“Originally, parents like Lin Lu and Yu Ming’s mothers entrusted their children to me, and they’ll definitely look at the next monthly exam results. If the scores are bad, they’ll probably take their kids back and not let me coach them anymore.”
“Exactly!” Teacher Qian slapped his thigh. “So, have you been tutoring them properly?”
“No,” Lin Wanxing said bluntly.
“???” Teacher Qian looked at her incredulously, his eyes widening again. “How can that be? What’s the reason? The students don’t want to study, or what?”
Remembering how the students sat in Yuan Yuan Cram School demanding to study hard and improve every day, Lin Wanxing said, “On the contrary, they’re very proactive about studying.”
Hearing this, Teacher Qian nodded with satisfaction again: “That’s right. Previously, you had matches, the schedule was busy, with both training and tutoring, there really wasn’t enough time. Alright then, I’ll report the school soccer team matter to the principal and see if we can get special approval.”
“Thank you,” Lin Wanxing said.
“It’s also because Teacher Lin has done a good job. Our No. 8 High School advancing to the National Youth League main tournament is a major achievement in our school’s soccer development. It definitely needs to be reported. Don’t worry, go back and wait for news.”
“Thank you, Teacher Qian.” Lin Wanxing smiled happily and bowed to Teacher Qian in thanks. “I’ll head back now.”
“No problem, it’s my duty. Take care.” Teacher Qian picked up his tea mug and began drinking thoughtfully again.
Lin Wanxing walked a couple of steps, then suddenly remembered something. She turned around and placed the book she had been holding onto Teacher Qian’s desk.
The book had a black-and-white cover with intersecting grid lines. The English title was “Crossword.”
Teacher Qian looked up, stunned, at her.
Lin Wanxing smiled and said, “It’s for you.”
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